Va. ballot-wording Harsh and Hateful

The Virginia Senate had agreed to placing the most restrictive language of a proposed Anti-Equal Marriage Amendment on the ballot. This is viewed by some as a victory because while a majority of Virginians are against Equal Marriage but support Civil Unions... This all reminds me of a recent episode of South Park.

The full text of the amendment reads:

“That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.

“This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage (Gay.com).”

I do hope the shocking harshness of the language will defeat the amendment, but irrational fear often wins the day. We need to defeat the fear.

Charlie Dorsett

My name is Charlie, but if your looking for my work, I go by C. E. Dorsett. I write scifi, fantasy, and a touch of horror. I like to play with gothic, steampunk, decopunk, epic fantasy, and wuxia. I love to tell stories and talk about books, movies, series, and music.

Marriage under Fire: The Ban, The Evangelist, and the Fraud

C.E. Dorsett
As I read the news this morning, I thought to myself: I hope and pray that someday soon, I will have no stories of hate, bigotry, or discrimination to blog about. I get worried sometimes that I sound like a broken record, because the same divisive tactics are being used over and again from state to state, and internationally. If you ignore the problem, it only grows. So here we go again:

The Ban:

Wisconsin has become the seventh state to place a constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of same-sex couples on the 2006 ballot.

Passed by the state Assembly by 62-31 on Tuesday night, the amendment takes the familiar route of defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but goes on to outlaw recognition of “any legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals (Gay.com).”

Don't you just love how it is no longer acceptable among fear- and hate-mongers to just be against same-gender marriage, they have to ban the segregated versions of it too. What do these people have against the family?

The Evangelist:

A longtime Presbyterian minister and avowed “lesbian evangelist” faces a church trial Thursday over allegations that she violated church mandates by marrying two lesbian couples (Gay.com).

Now, they are attacking ritual marriage too? Well, guess this destroys their argument that people can at least have the rite even if they don't have the rights. I hope she is not removed from office. She is doing God's work.

The Fraud:

The Massachusetts attorney general's office is launching a criminal investigation into whether signatures on an anti-same-sex marriage petition were forged, the Associated Press reported (Gay.com).

They attack the institution of marriage and the clergy who support it, and they will even commit fraud to undo equal rights in Mass. It makes you feel sorry for these people in a way doesn't it. They are so lost in their own prejudice that they would break the law to see it forced on others. It's sad, and a little scary.

A Note:A certain bow-tied idiot on MSNBC has blogged about how Gay marriage will legalize Polygamy...Why it would not legalize Polyandry as well, I do not know, but he has his knickers in a twist about this. This apples and oranges thing is wearing thin. Plural marriage has a negative emotional and economic impact on those involved. It is a separate issue. [Ugh] If Rachel Maddow were not on his show, I wouldn't even know it was on.

Equal Marriage Roundup

C.E. Dorsett
Those who push hate and bigotry found an ally in in Bill “I can misdiagnosis you from a distance, give me a cat” Frist:

The Senate is planning on a vote this year for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (Gay.com).

Oooo, they want to get peoples bigotry or lack there of on record so they can use it against them. While they will probably get away with this blatant act of gay baiting, I can only hope they get called out and held accountable for using hate as a political tactic. It is frankly, unconscious able that we allow this to happen in this country.

There is a bright light out there:

Same-sex couples across the United States applied for marriage licenses at their city and county offices Tuesday as part of an annual campaign for marriage equality (Gay.com).

I wish I was in the loop on this. As someone who has a licensed domestic partnership in the state of California, who has found himself living in Missouri dreaming of Massachusetts, I find the confusion in law concerning my personal relationship to be more than confusing... I can only hope that more protests shine a light on these issues.

This is about more than a piece of paper:

Gay marriage and civil partnerships are good for the health of lesbians and gay men, researchers said Tuesday in London (Gay.com).

VA not for Lovers, RI Contemplates Equal Marriage

In a move reminiscent of most of the civil rights disasters in our country's history:

Virginia voters will decide this fall if an anti-gay marriage amendment should be tacked onto their commonwealth's constitution, now that lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved it (Gay.com).

Frankly, all this reminds me of the Anti-Miscegenation (Mixed Race Marriage) Movement. They also used the bible (Number 25) to justify their bigotry. Those laws also had majority support. Vermont was only state not to pass an Anti-Miscegenation Law. The Courts were used to over turn these laws (Pace v. Alabama, 1883, upheld these odious laws/ Loving v. Virginia, 1967, struck the laws down). Bigotry is easy to pass into law, but difficult to remove.

Virginia is not the only state to place an anti-gay marriage amendment on its upcoming state elections. South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and South Dakota citizens will vote on similar amendments in their elections (Gay.com).

When you are having trouble winning an election, make your constituents hate someone or something. Hate is a powerful tool to organize people.

A Ray of Hope

Rhode Island's Senate and House are both facing bills that seek to legalize same-sex marriage (Gay.com).

VA maybe for Lovers, but not Marriage

Virginia seems likely to join the list of states where voters will consider a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions this year (Gay.com).

Like a plague of locusts, hate has spread its ugly wings and has begun to circle our nation yet again. This new millennium is off with a bang... Every two years or so our nation has been looking for new and inventive ways to strip rights from her citizens and to add inequality and hate to our state constitutions. Marital Segregation (civil unions/domestic partnerships) are being celebrated because separate but unequal is suppose to be better than nothing. Celebrating someone telling you are less than they are is the same as them pretending you don't exist.

Republican corruption is going to hit the polls hard... What can we do to distract people and continue harming the morals of the nation?

Virginia will be one of five states with an amendment referendum in 2006, along with South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Alabama. Alabama's showdown is in June; the other three are set for November (Gay.com).

Really? That should do it. Hate is stronger than love, and Fear is stronger than any other collective emotion a group can feel... and it is contagious. Fascists have always know this, and it is still true. If there is no one to fear or hate, create them. GLBT people are the only people it is politically correct to hate anymore, because if you challenge their hate, they claim you are discriminating against them.

They claim people choose to be GLBT, and thus they are not entitled to equal rights... Well, let us take their argument seriously: People choose to be religionists... People choose to be conservative... so by their logic, they are not entitled to equal treatment under the law. So fire every lazy right winger and evangelical Christian. If they sue, tell them they chose a harmful lifestyle that you cannot condone or support for the good of society. After all, no country that has accepted fundamentalist religion has ever survived: Rome, the Crusader States, Iran under the Shah, and Afghanistan, just to name a few.

This is the flaw in their logic. Whether or not it is a choice to be GLBT is moot. The way you treat the GLBT community is.

Marriage under Fire: The Ban, The Evangelist, and the Fraud

C.E. Dorsett
As I read the news this morning, I thought to myself: I hope and pray that someday soon, I will have no stories of hate, bigotry, or discrimination to blog about. I get worried sometimes that I sound like a broken record, because the same divisive tactics are being used over and again from state to state, and internationally. If you ignore the problem, it only grows. So here we go again:

The Ban:

Wisconsin has become the seventh state to place a constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of same-sex couples on the 2006 ballot.

Passed by the state Assembly by 62-31 on Tuesday night, the amendment takes the familiar route of defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but goes on to outlaw recognition of “any legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals (Gay.com).”

Don't you just love how it is no longer acceptable among fear- and hate-mongers to just be against same-gender marriage, they have to ban the segregated versions of it too. What do these people have against the family?

The Evangelist:

A longtime Presbyterian minister and avowed “lesbian evangelist” faces a church trial Thursday over allegations that she violated church mandates by marrying two lesbian couples (Gay.com).

Now, they are attacking ritual marriage too? Well, guess this destroys their argument that people can at least have the rite even if they don't have the rights. I hope she is not removed from office. She is doing God's work.

The Fraud:

The Massachusetts attorney general's office is launching a criminal investigation into whether signatures on an anti-same-sex marriage petition were forged, the Associated Press reported (Gay.com).

They attack the institution of marriage and the clergy who support it, and they will even commit fraud to undo equal rights in Mass. It makes you feel sorry for these people in a way doesn't it. They are so lost in their own prejudice that they would break the law to see it forced on others. It's sad, and a little scary.

A Note:A certain bow-tied idiot on MSNBC has blogged about how Gay marriage will legalize Polygamy...Why it would not legalize Polyandry as well, I do not know, but he has his knickers in a twist about this. This apples and oranges thing is wearing thin. Plural marriage has a negative emotional and economic impact on those involved. It is a separate issue. [Ugh] If Rachel Maddow were not on his show, I wouldn't even know it was on.